DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

commissioner. In their statement, the cops alleged that the cousin of the victim, Jagdish Singh, whorecorded the incident on his camera deleted the portion in which the victim and her relatives were seenmisbehaving with them, Ladhar said. "Expert opinion will be solicited to judge the veracity of this claim,"Ladhar added. The two taxi drivers, who have been booked under the SC/ST Act, denied making anyderogatory or casteist remarks against the victim or her family. Ladhar added that the then SSP, DC andSHO, would be called to his office on Monday for their version on the incident. (Hindustan Times 18/4/13)'Dalit youth was killed protecting sister' (2)BHIWANI: The 18-year-old dalit youth, whose body was recovered in a Bhiwani village on Wednesday,was killed for resisting advances towards her sister made by an upper-caste youth. Bhiwani policerevealed on Thursday that accused Praveen Singh, an upper-caste Rajput, and his accomplice KuldeepKumar, a dalit man, had tied the victim, Jaimal Kumar, to a tree and hit him with a vehicle till he died. Thishad happened on the outskirts of Devsar village in Bhiwani district on Tuesday evening, and the accusedwere arrested on Thursday. The victim's family had, however, complained to police on Wednesday thatJaimal was killed over the "ghurchari" row which took place in the village around two years ago. But copsinvestigating the killing said that Praveen Singh had made several advances towards Jaimal's sister. Thevictim opposed this and told the accused to stay away from the girl. According to sources, Praveen Singhhad been in touch with Jaimal's sister over phone. Police officers said that the accused and hisaccomplice took the victim to the village outskirts on Tuesday and they consumed liquor together. Soon,Jaimal lashed out at Praveen and an argument began. Cops said that the accused put a rope aroundJaimal's neck and tied him to a tree and hit him with a vehicle. They then dragged him to some distanceand crushed him under the wheels of the vehicle. The body was left inside the car which was abandonedalong the roadside, a police officer said. (Times of India 19/4/13)Torture of Dalit woman: Residents meet Police Commissioner (2)Ludhiana: Residents of Prem Nagar on Thursday met Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh and demandeda fair investigation into the beating up of a Dalit woman in Prem Nagar on April 3. The woman was beatenup publicly and an FIR was registered on April 16 after she produced a video grab before PoliceCommissioner Ishwar Singh. Three cops had been suspended on Wednesday by the Commissioner fornot acting on the complaint swiftly. However, the delegation on Thursday demanded that the SC/ST Actshould be dropped from the FIR because the residents said the woman was not a Dalit and was givingfalse statements. Ravinder Rawat, Roshan Singh and Amit Kumar, who were leading this delegation,said, “Last year, police had registered a case under immoral trafficking against the same woman. Thepolice should listen to the area residents as well and should take action against the woman too.” Theresidents submitted a memorandum to the Commissioner, who assured them that a special investigationteam (SIT) will look into all aspects and based on its report, due action would be taken. The residentsdemanded that SHO Jatinderjit Singh should be reinstated. While on Wednesday night, the residents hadblocked the National Highway 1 and had staged a dharna outside the office of ADCP Bhupinder SinghSidhu, they staged a dharna at Jagraon bridge after meeting the Commissioner on Thursday. (IndianExpress 20/4/13)5 members of Dalit family attempt suicide (2)Chandigarh: In a gory tale, five members of a dalit family in Haryana attempted suicide to protest againstthe tardy investigation of rape of another 16-year old family member last year. Three members of thefamily have already died while two are battling with their lives in Rohtak. Nine-year old Rajesh Kumar,member of a Dalit family, who consumed poison along with his mother, father, one brother and one sisterin Bheri Akbarpur village of Uklana, 50km from district headquarters Hisar on April 22, died on Tuesday atPGIMS hospital at Rohtak. Rajesh's 38-year-old mother and his 12-year-old sister had died on Mondayeven as his father and 11-year old brother are still in a critical condition. B.S. Balan, S.P. Hisar told The